Interesting nugget on The Kurds taken from here:-

Turkish fears of Kurdish desire for secession go back to the carving up of the Ottoman Empire following World War I. The Kurds, who number some 20 to 25 million and are concentrated in an area spanning southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, Iran and parts of Syria, were promised in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres their own state. But Turkey forced a renegotiation of the treaty, and the Kurds were left without a state. Those living within Turkish borders became part of the new Turkish nation which attempted to unite the various ethnic groups living within it. However, the Kurds did not take well to this, rebelling in 1925 against attempts to assimilate them. A deal was struck in 1937, leaving the Kurds to their own devices, but also leaving the area undeveloped, without investment from the government.

Coming weeks will be interesting to see what the US puppet government in Iraq will do